Homeowners always look for ways to improve their homes. One of the most popular projects they chose today is building a sunroom addition. Sunrooms are versatile rooms that can expand your living space and be used virtually any way that fits your lifestyle. The windows you choose need to be high quality to manage the temperature of your sunroom and also be as energy-efficient as possible. Here are some of the factors you need to know about your sunroom addition windows.
Designing your own home is made easy with 3D designs.
Our homes provide us with more than just a comfortable place to relax each evening. It is our emotional haven and safe place from the hectic world we live in. One of the latest trends in home remodeling is to design your own home addition or remodeling project in 3D. Having a Scituate custom built floor plan in 3D can help you gain a better understanding for the design and a sense for how it’s really going to look and feel once it has been completed. Here are a few reasons you should ask your home remodeling professional about a 3D design.
3D Designs Give You a Better Picture of the Home
When you are just looking at a two-dimensional picture of your home’s floor plan, it can be difficult to get a good feel for the elevations and features. A basic floor plan can give you the general idea of how the home is going to be laid out, but it can be difficult to visualize how the design is actually going to look when it’s done. A 3D design helps you see it better and gain an understanding of how it’s going to work for you. The more understanding you can gain of your design and the more you get a feel for its overall effect, the easier it will be to make the necessary decisions.
A 3D Design Reduces Changes Later On
Dealing with an inadequate representation of your home’s floor plan can lead to a lot of changes once construction begins. This will eventually translate into more money and time spent in completing the renovations or home addition.Since a 3D design lets you see the floor plan more clearly, it’s less likely you’ll need changes further down the road.
Create a custom built home plan in 3D.
A 3D Design Lets You See Renovations Before They Begin
A three-dimensional display isn’t just for designing and building a new home. It can be beneficial when you want to make renovations too. The 3D view allows you a chance to see what the completed changes will look like. Seeing your renovations before construction even begins can allow you to spot any potential problems or something you hadn’t thought about before. Being able to see your home remodeling or new building project before it has begun can prevent making unnecessary changes and helps homeowners avoid having to pay for work that is not needed or wanted.
A 3D Design Helps Everyone Get on the Same Page
Displaying your 3D design to those who will be working on your home can help unite everyone in working toward common goals. A simple meeting can bring everyone together to contribute ideas to the design process. When all members of the team can see the images on a shared screen, changes can be made immediately, saving those involved huge amounts of time.
Are you ready to start designing your own home in Scituate? Contact us to see your ideas in 3D.
If you’re planning a home addition, making sure it is environmentally friendly and sustainable may not be on your non-negotiables list. It should be, though. There’s only one earth; we all should be good stewards of our limited, finite natural resources. If that moral argument isn’t enough to convince you to go green, how does the prospect of saving green sound? That’s right: eco-friendly home plans can actually save you money.
How You Can Integrate Green Practices into Your Home Addition
Thanks to the growing demand for environmentally sound practices and products, the cost to go green is now more affordable than ever. The practice that once was trendy and reserved mostly for the wealthy is now mainstream, thanks to better education and readily accessible eco-friendly products. In a recent survey of home builders and remodelers, the most common eco-friendly practices requested by clients were:
Installing high-efficiency HVAC or water heaters, energy-efficient lighting and appliances and insulation exceeding minimum building code requirements.
Using engineered or prefabricated materials that are longer-lasting than wood.
Enhancing the quality of indoor air by using materials low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Installing appliances and fixtures that reduce water use.
Xeriscaping (choosing a landscaping approach that needs no or minimal supplemental water).
Reducing the amount of waste generated during the construction process.
Sourcing construction materials that are reused or reclaimed.
Incorporate green materials in your eco-friendly home plans.
Green Products to Incorporate into Your Home
In addition to working closely with your builder to develop eco-friendly home plans that maximize energy efficiency, minimize water consumption and cut down on hazardous chemicals, there are a vast array of green products you can incorporate into your new home addition. Here are a few examples:
Java-Logs: clean-burning fireplace logs made out of recycled coffee grounds.
BioBags: biodegradable trash bags.
Aerators: inexpensive faucet attachments mix air into the water that comes out of the sink or shower faucet, reducing water consumption.
Hot water recirculator: a pump installed beneath sinks that supplies hot water instantly so there is no need to run the water in the faucet waiting for it to heat up.
Little Changes Can Mean Big Savings
Once your new green addition is complete, you can also make small behavioral changes to be more eco-friendly and to save money. Did you know using a programmable thermostat or manually adjusting the temperature setting to 68 degrees in winter and 78 degrees in summer can reduce your electricity costs by 10 percent? Reducing your water heater’s temperature setting to 120 degrees and covering its pipes with insulation will also significantly cut costs. Odds are, you won’t even notice these small changes until you go to pay your utility bills.
If you’re in the market for custom built home plans in Dover and the surrounding areas, contact us. Colony Home Improvement specializes in home additions and renovations, and can suggest eco-friendly building improvements that will save you money. Regardless of the size or scope of your project, we will get the job done right and on time!
Crown molding can make your home addition even better.
What can turn a plain room in your house into an outstanding one? Attention to detail. It’s interesting how sometimes the smallest touches can make all the difference in transforming a space into a true showcase. If you are considering a home addition, keep that in mind. Before you sign off on your MA home addition floor plan, study it carefully. Does it include special touches like custom crown molding? You are the king or queen of your castle. If you want your home addition to be stunning, custom crown molding is a must!
Types of Crown Molding
There are several types of crown molding from which to choose, which means there’s a crown to complement any architectural style. Here are some of the most common types:
Federal Crown Molding. Characterized by beading (small indentations) and cavetto (concave profiles), this type of crown can make a room with a low ceiling feel more open and less confined.
Colonial Revival Crown Molding. Crisp, clean lines are the perfect marriage of Greek Revival and Federal architectural styles. This type of molding looks stunning in formal rooms of the house.
Early American Crown Molding. This type of traditional crown molding maintains a concave exterior edge and convex interior edge. It’s useful for making a room appear larger.
Dentil Crown Molding. Characterized by a series of squares or rectangles, boxy dentil molding is often placed on home exteriors.
Chair Rail Crown Molding. This molding gets its name for the fact that historically, architects would place this molding about a third of the way up a wall – to serve as a buffer between chairs and walls. Today, it’s still often applied at that height, even when there’s no risk of chair-to-wall mishaps. Why? It simply looks great!
Don’t forget crown molding in your custom built floor plan.
Crown Molding: It’s Not Just for Ceilings
The most common uses for crown molding are to provide a decorative accent between a wall and a ceiling, to create a custom fireplace mantle and to frame in an entire fireplace. However, crown is a great, cost-effective way to dress up a room and even to hide design flaws. As you contemplate your home addition, think of creative ways to incorporate crown molding and add that extra oomph to your project. You can use crown to:
Frame and beautify windows and door frames
Punch up bookshelves
Mask awkward cracks and crevices
Trim stair cases
Frame kitchen and bathroom cabinets
Separate two walls of different colors
Create a clear distinction between areas of a room
When crown molding is in your design arsenal, you’re really only limited by your imagination.
Attention to Detail Is Our Specialty
Before you commit to a custom built floor plan in Scituate and the surrounding areas, make sure you contact us at Colony Home Improvement. We don’t just want our customers to be satisfied with our work; we want our customers to be ecstatic with their addition or remodeling project. We incorporate special touches like custom crown molding that make spaces showstoppers.
Custom built home plans can create beautiful outdoor spaces.
When most people think of a home addition, they consider adding to their interior living space. However, contractors for home additions in Brookline and the surrounding areas can help you create custom built home plans that add outdoor living space as well. During the summer, having this type of living space can greatly improve your quality of life.
Effective Lighting
Just because the sun goes down doesn’t mean you have to head inside. With your outdoor room addition, choosing the right lighting can create an ambience that makes spending time outdoors after dark more enjoyable. In addition, the lighting you use in your new outdoor living space can work to draw the eye to certain features, as well as make it easy to see what you’re doing. In some cases, this may involve installing several types of lighting to serve each purpose individually.
An outdoor home addition can create comfortable seating.
A Comfortable Seating Area
Most people who want an exterior room addition have a nice seating area in mind where they can relax, spend time with family and friends and enjoy the outdoors. When you work with contractors for home additions in Brookline and the surrounding areas, they can help you create a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the feel of relaxing in the open air. You will be able to choose from a number of elegant seating options, as well as layouts that will help feed the conversation and allow you to enjoy the surrounding landscape.
Contractors for home additions can make an outdoor kitchen.
Consider a Kitchen
Whether you often grill outdoors or you’d like to give it a try, one of the most popular outdoor living trends is an outdoor kitchen. These kitchens often include a highly functional grill or outdoor stove top, along with other popular kitchen features, such as a small refrigerator, cabinets and countertops. Your custom built home plans will allow you to create a kitchen space outdoors so you can easily prepare meals without having to leave your guests out on your patio or other outdoor living space alone.
A room addition doesn’t have to be limited to the interior of your home. While adding more living space inside may have its benefits, creating new outdoor living space can be just as functional and help you enjoy some time outdoors as well. When you follow these latest outdoor living space trends, you will be able to enjoy the outdoors in new ways, whether you spend time outside as a family or entertaining friends
If you’re interested in expanding your outdoor living space, contact us. Our Massachusetts contractors can help you plan and carry out a functional living space in your own back yard.
